Montrealer dreams of soccer glory after buying minority stake in 5th-division Italian team

A Montreal businessman has high hopes and big dreams after acquiring a minority stake in a fifth-division Italian soccer team.

Angelo Pasto, who recently rediscovered his Italian roots, decided he wanted to further connect with the region he came from – Molise – in southern Italy.

So Pasto became a minority shareholder in Campobasso 1919, a club with more than a century of history, as the name reflects.

“Over the last five years we travelled to Italy several times with the family,” said Pasto. “And we’ve become close to our relatives in Italy. And in fact, my wife and my son both fell in love with Campobasso, with Termoli.

“And as soon as the opportunity came to invest there, I jumped at it.”

The new adventure for Pasto began after meeting Matt Rizzetta, the founder and chairman of North Sixth Group, which has investments in marketing, media, technology, sports and entertainment.

“Well, two years ago I spoke to Matt Rizzetta, who was the original owner of the team, and we became friends,” recounted Pasto. “And then in the summer of 2022, when he had the opportunity to take control of the team, he offered me the possibility of becoming a minority shareholder. And right away I jumped at it and I said yes.”

Pasto credits his love of soccer to his son Aiden.

“I started off as a soccer fan, but over the last couple of years I became a diehard fan, basically based on my son’s love of soccer. And in fact, we’ve flown over to Italy to watch several games.”

Campobasso 1919 is currently playing in the Italian fifth tier, but Pasto and the rest of the ownership group are dreaming of changing things.

“I think we could bring our North American mentality of running a business to Italy to help promote the team and to help the team succeed in climbing up the ladder to higher levels of Italian soccer.”

The team’s most successful period came in the 1980s when it played five straight seasons in Serie B – the second-highest level of Italian soccer.

????????????Le foto della finale di Coppa Italia Campobasso-A. Alto Casertano realizzate da Giuseppe Terrigno photography.
????????????The photos of the final Campobasso-A. Alto Casertano made by Giuseppe Terrigno.
????https://t.co/axfIFHgUdd pic.twitter.com/kbgJQoP2Tv

— Campobasso Football Club (@Campobasso1919) February 5, 2023

Also on board is American TV host Kelly Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos, who are part of the ownership through their involvement with North Sixth Group.

“I’m very excited because they’re very well-known TV personalities in the United States, and they’re also passionate about the project to help promote Campobasso in the American market,” said Pasto. “Because after all, there is a large community of Molisani in the United States.”

Pasto, whose day job is president of Stanford Properties Group, a real estate management firm, joins a select group of Canadians and Montrealers with ownership stakes in soccer teams abroad.

CF Montreal owner Joey Saputo doubles as majority shareholder in the consortium that bought Serie A team Bologna.

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has a stake in Wrexham, a Welsh side that plays in England’s fifth-tier National League.

And Calgary-based R. Stewart Thompson and Kelowna-based Jason Neale are co-owners of Peterborough United of England’s third-tier League One.

—With files from The Canadian Press